Enemies With Benefits
by Apheleia
Summary: [one-shot] He must've been doing something wrong—maybe it was the way he was standing, walking, looking at her?—because she responded to his greeting with a snappy, "What do you want?" "What do I usually want when I approach you in an empty hallway with a drawled-out 'hey?"


Perfect, he thought as a small, mischievous half-smile began growing on his lips_. Perfect._

It'd been a long day, and for him, not one without annoyances and frustrations. This was exactly what he needed—the perfect something for him to use to take his mind off the troubles of the day. (After all, had it really been his fault that he had fallen asleep in Physics and gotten a detention for it? That's right—he didn't think so either.) And by the looks of it—specifically her downcast gaze, pressed lips, and clenched fists—she needed something too.

These observations igniting his resolve even further, he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned the confidence in his stride up a notch as he slightly turned his direction so that he was walking towards her.

This really was perfect, he mused. They were alone (well, nearly alone, as soon as that freshman hightailed it out of there) in a hallway during after school hours. The surrounding walls were nearly barren of any bulletin boards or papers or anything of the sort, which would make pushing her up against said walls all the more easier and worry-free. The thought made his smirk grow another fraction of an inch and added a little more enthusiasm into his step.

As he approached her, he could see that her eyes were still staring intently at the ground and that she hadn't noticed him at all. This realization upset him slightly, but it didn't deter him. If anything, it made him even more willing to approach her, even if to just ask her what was wrong. It was only when he was less than a yard away from her and he could see the details of her creased brow, slight frown, and frustrated (and _teary?_) eyes that she finally noticed his shoes and her head snapped up to look at him as her step slowed to a stop.

"Hey," he drawled.

He must've been doing something wrong—maybe it was the way he was standing, walking, looking at her?—because she responded to his greeting with a snappy, "What do you _want_?"

Admittedly, he was a little taken aback, but then again, they'd been at each others' throats for a few years already so he was already used to retorts like these. It's just that ever since the recent addition of the slightly more.._.intimate_ aspect of their relationship, she hadn't given him attitude like that right off the _bat. _Maybe a few lines in, yeah, but never as a greeting.

Whatever. He could handle it.

"What do I usually want when I approach you in an empty hallway with a drawled-out 'hey'?" he returned sarcastically, finally reaching and stopping right in front of her.

She glared up at him before rolling her eyes. "Can it, I'm not in the mood for your crap today," she muttered darkly before attempting to sidestep him.

He matched her sidestep, effectively cutting her off. "I wouldn't say that what I have to offer is _crap_, per se."

"Well, aren't you pleasant," she remarked dryly.

"You would know," he countered with his killer wink-smirk combination.

"Just putty in your hands," she said disdainfully with another attempt at pushing past him.

Of course, he wasn't really having that; she did this whole hard-to-get thing often. Things usually ended with him getting what he—_and _her, she couldn't deny it—wanted. It just took a slight bit of effort. So he quickly raised an arm, catching her by her torso and effectively stopping her. One small coaxing push later, her back was pressed against his chest, his arms successfully locking her in place despite her struggling. He lowered his head so that his mouth was right next to her ear.

"Aren't you?" he whispered, smiling slightly at the way goosebumps rose on the part behind her ear where his breath had grazed.

Before she could reply, his face was buried in the crook of her neck and his lips and tongue softly brushing against her shoulderblade. A small moan escaped Leaf's mouth then, and Gary smirked into her skin at the sound. He turned her around quickly and suddenly so that she had no time to properly react, and he tightened his grip on her to emphasize a point as he pressed and molded his lips to hers.

She was still resisting, pulling back as far as she could while half-heartedly attempting to pry herself from his arms, but the grip he had on the small of her back was overpowering and there was nothing she could do. Her mouth was tight, but Gary knew the brunette was loosening up bit by bit as he imploringly played her bottom lip with his tongue. He began pushing her so that she was forced to make small steps backwards where, a few feet later, her back was pressed against the wall and his forearms were parallel lines beside her head. His mouth hadn't left hers for one second, and he could practically _feel _her willpower crumbling.

Damn, he thought. Even when she was resisting, she was still a hell of a kisser.

It was when he swore he was _that_ close to getting her to completely let down all her defenses when she abruptly swiveled her head and, just like that, he was suddenly kissing hair. Slightly confused and completely annoyed, he pulled away to give her an incredulous _what-the-hell_ look.

Funny thing was, she was kind of giving him one, too. She reached up a hand and, for a moment, Gary thought she was going to slap him.

Then he felt a distinct stickiness as well as a smooth texture on his lips, and her hand fell back down to her side.

Surprised and more than a little confused, he reached up a hand to rip the piece of stationery paper from his upper lip and looked down at it to see two black-Sharpied words staring back at him.

"**Stop it**."

His mouth fell slack. His mind blanked for a moment. His arms fell from the wall and his confused gaze alternated between her and the yellow Post-it in his hand. He didn't move to stop her when she began slinking out of the space she had previously been confined in.

When Leaf saw that he was still too shocked to respond and, therefore, she was free to go, she took the chance with one last _I-told-you-so_ glare back at him before promptly stalking down and out of the hall.

* * *

The next day, Leaf avoided the brunet bastard as much as possible, purposefully going out of her way to take alternate routes to her classes and _definitely _not staying after school to wander hallways alone.

She also avoided him the day after that.

And the day after _that._

At least it was working. She hadn't seen his stupid face ever since that _particular _afternoon.

On the fourth day of avoiding, though, people apparently began to note that something was up. Not with her, though. No, but in fact—

"Okay, _what_ is _up _with Gary?" wondered aloud Misty as her eyes focused on a certain brunet sitting halfway across the lunchroom, jarring Leaf from her thoughts that had, coincidentally, been about the same boy.

"What do you mean?" said Leaf nonchalantly, picking uninterestedly at her pizza and looking up—though subtly—to look at the present occupier of Misty's attention as well. She became genuinely confused when he was, well, talking and laughing with his friends and not really seeming as if there were anything "up with him" in the first place.

"He hasn't looked at you once this entire period," said Misty as if it were the most abnormal thing in the world.

Leaf's eye twitched once. "What, is he _supposed _to?"

No, she hadn't told her best friend about her recent..._intimate _endeavors with Gary, let alone the incident a few days ago. The whole thing wasn't _worth_ telling, really. Just because _he _was a great, big prat and didn't have a _single _considerate bone in his body—

"Yes?" replied Misty, a small smile creeping onto her lips and Leaf didn't like it.

"...He's a prat," said Leaf, looking away and staring pointedly at her shredded pizza instead.

"Did you just say 'prat'?" said Misty, an incredulous sort of sarcastic astonishment in her tone. "Either you're secretly British or..." Suddenly, a wave of enthusiasm washed over the girl's face. "You've been hanging out with that new kid Tanner, haven't you!"

A sick, churning feeling suddenly sprouted in Leaf's gut at the sound of the name. "Unfortunately," she said darkly under her breath.

Misty raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'unfortunately'? He seems like a nice guy."

Leaf sighed. This was going to be a bit of a story (though it was actually one she'd been meaning to get off her chest for a while now). "Well..."

* * *

Maybe he was just reading into it a little bit—okay, maybe a lot, whatever—but for the past few days, Gary had been inexplicably angry.

Okay, well, it wasn't quite _inexplicable_. It was Leaf's fault and he wouldn't deny that (not to himself, anyway). The only question was _why. _

_ Why_ had she rejected him like that? (She'd always resisted before, but had never quite stopped him like that.) Had part of it been because of her foul mood? If so, _why _had she been in such a foul mood? (Was it her time of the month?)

Also, _why _was he stringing himself up over this?

(Oh, because she had been pointedly avoiding him the past few days?)

...Heck, at this point, he found that he was even missing their stupid little arguments.

It was his lunch period as these thoughts ran through his mind, and though they had never, _ever _sat together, he and Leaf did indeed share the "class". And he knew exactly where she was sitting today—halfway across the cafeteria, far, far away from him. Just like the past few days.

Okay, that's enough, he decided as he stood up. There were approximately twenty minutes left in the period, which happened to be plenty of time for him to confront her about all this. His friends were talking about basketball or something, so with nothing more than a curt announcement of going to the bathroom, he was free from the attention of his friends as he ambled away from their lunch table and towards Leaf's, which consisted of only her and Misty Waterflower.

When he was a few yards away, he saw Misty poke Leaf and look pointedly in the direction in which Gary was coming from. When he was a few feet away, he could see the slight widening of Leaf's eyes.

"Sorry, Mist...do you mind if I talk to Leaf for a bit?"

Misty's eyes alternated between Gary's cool gaze and Leaf's pleadingly frantic one, but though Leaf was her best friend, she smiled innocently and replied with a calm, "Sure, Gary. Go on, Leaf."

Gary watched bemusedly as Leaf froze, glared hatefully at both of them, rose slowly from her seat, and shuffled over to him. They took a few more steps so that they were out of earshot from Misty and any other interested ears.

"Okay...what do you _want, _Gary?" spat Leaf venomously as she defensively crossed her arms.

Gary snorted, getting an immense sense of deja vu. "Why are you mad at me?" he demanded, cutting straight to the chase.

"Why do you care?"

"Uh, because it's _me _you're mad at, genius," articulated Gary slowly as if she wouldn't understand otherwise.

"So?"

"Leaf..." he said exasperatedly.

"_What_?" she retorted, being difficult as ever.

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed a loud, frustrated sigh. He hadn't planned on losing his temper during this exchange, but it was taking a lot to keep it in check right now. "Why..." he began slowly and deliberately through clenched teeth. "...are you mad_..._at me?"

Leaf stared at him for a moment, her brow creased, the corner of her lips pulled down. Seconds passed and Gary waited, whether for an actual answer or another conversational sidestep, he didn't know.

Finally, the brunette threw up her hands and responded with a hiss of, "_This_!"

Gary blinked, slightly taken aback. "This? What's _this_?" he echoed questioningly, not understanding at all and feeling a bit worthless that such was the case.

Leaf seemed to be of similar mindset because she chuckled wryly, shook her head, and pointedly said, "Forget it." Turning away from him, she called out to Misty, "I'm going to the bathroom!" and promptly stalked away from him and towards the lunchroom exit.

Gary watched with narrowed eyes as she left, making no move to stop her and not really seeing the point in doing such a thing anyways. With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair again and averted his eyes to the ground. In the process, in his peripheral vision, he saw something that made his gaze snap curiously to it.

There, on another lunch table, was a stack of little blue Post-it notes. An idea quickly formed in his mind and without a second thought, he crossed the few yards to the other table and politely asked the girl for a Post-it, which he received automatically along with a polite smile. He was granted permission to borrow a pen as well, and he quickly scribbled with it a short message on the stationery paper. He ripped the particular sheet off the rest of the pad, said another word of thanks to the girl, and walked back to Leaf and Misty's table.

Upon arrival, he quickly reached for Leaf's British Literature binder, which had been sitting open on the table as the brunette had been doing a log of some sorts. He stuck the note on an inside flap, making sure to run his thumb over the sticky part a few times as Misty watched on in amusement.

"Want to explain, Oak?" asked the redhead though she made no move to stop him.

All Gary responded with was a small knowing smirk and a quick thanks to Misty right before he turned and strode back to his own lunch table. Unsurprisingly, his friends were still talking about basketball, and Gary soon tuned out and found his eyes fixated on the lunchroom entrance, waiting for a certain brunette to come back.

* * *

It was seventh period and Leaf was opening her British Literature binder (because, suitably, it was her British Literature class) and flipping through her notes when a splash of color on one particular page caught her attention. She began studying the small piece of paper and just like that, she knew exactly who had sent this message reading, "**I might know if you actually try telling me**."

As her teacher lectured about Charles Dickens, Leaf sat there analyzing the words scrawled in Gary Oak's chicken scratch and trying to come up with a reply.

Thirty or so seconds of deliberating and ignoring the lecture later, Leaf reached into her bag and rummaged for her handy stack of yellow Post-its.

* * *

Gary stifled a yawn as he approached his locker. It'd been a long day and, he decided as he opened his locker, the first thing he was going to do after he went straight home was crash on the couch for a few hours.

Those thoughts were quickly put aside when he noticed the piece of paper sticking up awkwardly from the vent cut into the face of his locker door. Cocking his head slightly and feeling a sudden swell of nerves in his gut, he reached up, plucked the Post-it off his locker, and read it.

"**Not sure if I'm up for trying to get it through your thick skull**...**or trying to read your chicken scratch**," was printed in neat, loopy letters.

Smiling slightly, he pocketed the note, already brainstorming ways to reply.

* * *

The next day, Ash Ketchum tapped Leaf on the shoulder during division and, with a friendly grin, handed her a folded Post-it which she immediately unfolded. "It's from Gary," he explained, though the explanation wasn't necessary as Leaf had unfolded the paper knowing full well who the sender had been, especially since the messenger had been Ash.

Slightly bemused, Leaf noted that the writing was significantly neater than the first one.

"**Ah cmon Leaf I'm trying...look, I'm even changing myself for you**," was written, though Leaf knew that the words were meant jokingly and that all he was changing about himself was his handwriting.

She began sifting through her memory for people who would have classes with Gary later in the day.

* * *

That same day, Daisy Waterflower approached Gary right before class started and, with a knowing wink, handed him a folded Post-it which he immediately unfolded. "From Leaf," she trilled, though the explanation wasn't necessary as Gary had unfolded the paper knowing full well who the sender had been, especially since the messenger had been Daisy.

Gary's eyes quickly scanned the note, which read, "**You'll have to try harder than one somewhat legible sentence.**"

Well, thought Gary as the bell rang and Daisy, after shooting Gary an amused look, retreated to her seat. _How about _two _somewhat legible sentences, Green?_

* * *

Leaf's eyes were glued to her phone as she multitasked texting May Maple and turning her lock dial. A few short seconds later, after the lock emitted a small click, Leaf slipped the lock off of her locker and swung the door open.

At this point, she probably shouldn't have been so surprised, but she still emitted a small yelp when a small pink Post-it fluttered down from above and tickled her cheek, eventually somehow landing on the nape of her neck. She warily plucked the sticky note from her shoulder, laughed sheepishly at the looks she was receiving from a few people around her, and read the printed words.

"**I'm working on it...just ****try**** my empathetic side, k?**"

Leaf stilled and her eyes grew distant as her mind immediately began making up potential replies to his message, and for a few seconds, no one interrupted her thoughts until...

"Leaf?"

Upon hearing her name being called as well as recognizing the voice that was calling it, Leaf turned to find exactly whom she had expected to see. A small, timid smile spread on her face.

"Hey, Tanner," she greeted.

"'ey...you ready to go?" he asked in that wonderful accent of his as he stuck a hand in his pocket.

Admittedly, Leaf probably shouldn't have agreed to this "hanging out" the two of them were doing today, what with what the boy had said only a few days ago. But he had apologized yesterday (even if the apology had apparently been instigated by, in Leaf's opinion, _pathetic _reasons) and the apology had (probably) been genuine.

...and, well, damn. The boy was _British._

(And not hard on the eyes at all.)

"No, I just need a few more centuries, if that's alright with you," replied Leaf seriously as she turned to withdraw certain textbooks from her locker.

She heard him softly chuckle, "You cheeky bird."

"Your British slang is beautiful," Leaf declared seriously.

And as the blonde boy with the beautiful accent behind her laughed, all thoughts of responding to Gary's message were immediately temporarily stowed away into Leaf's jacket pocket.

* * *

Gary's brow was furrowed as he stared at the Post-it he had just found in his pencil case. Although he wasn't sure how Leaf had managed to get it there without him noticing—perhaps she had asked a favor of someone else?—he truthfully didn't care all that much.

What he did care about was the contents of said Post-it, which happened to be, "**It's complicated...and I don't want to tell you so just drop it**."

Hell, what was he supposed to reply to that?

His mind had been going from one stupid idea of a reply ("You've done lots of things that you didn't initially want to do with me!") to the next ("Sure I'll drop it when you stop with this avoiding crap that's resulting in us communicating by damn _Post-its__..._") when he was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts by a black-haired boy slinging his arm across Gary's shoulder.

"What do you want, Brendan?" snapped Gary, though he hadn't meant to snap at the boy. Really. It's just that Leaf apparently had a funny way of messing him up even when he _hadn't_ seen her face for the past three days.

"Aye, chill out, Oak," laughed the boy. "Just wondering why you're standing under a tree in forty degree weather staring at a little piece of paper with a constipated look on your face."

Gary snorted. "Just thinking."

"About how you haven't taken a dump in the past week?"

"Mature, Birch," drawled Gary, slightly unamused.

"Alright, alright...any way I can help?"

Gary shrugged. "I guess..."

Brendan grinned. "Go for it."

With a sigh, Gary began, "There's a girl-"

"It's always a girl," muttered Brendan under his breath. "Why does it keep being girls lately? Ash with that Misty chick, too, and-"

"Do you _mind_?"

"Sorry. Carry on."

"Basically, I guess we were a friends-with-benefits thing-"

"Pft, c'mon Gare-bear, didn't you ever see the movie? The fact that it was Mila Kunis wasn't the only reason J.T.'s character couldn't stay away from Jamie-"

"Do. You _mind_?"

"So you were saying?"

Gary sighed. Might as well make it as condensed as possible. "Short form: since she ran away from me a couple days ago, she's been ignoring me and saying that I wouldn't understand what's bothering her or something even if she told me."

"Ahhh. I see," said Brendan, one arm still around Gary's shoulders while the other's hand stroked his chin. "Well...okay, just talk to her. Ask her to meet you in person, because clearly, the sexual tension thing between you two is kind of insane right now, so you need to get that resolved. Also, since it's Leaf, you should open up with a sarcastic or light comment before you ask for a meeting."

Gary's head was nodding slightly even after Brendan had finished speaking. His eyes were distant for a few more seconds before a small smirk slowly spread over his lips as the words for a reply formed in his head. Then, suddenly, the smirk disappeared and Gary gave Brendan a shocked, incredulous look.

Brendan rolled his eyes. "Dude, don't look at me like that. The sexual tension you guys have could cook a grilled cheese or something, and I'd have to either be blind or hate grilled cheeses to not see it."

* * *

Tanner had been waiting for Leaf at her locker (they weren't going on another coffee shop date; he was just walking her to the train) when he saw it.

He supposed that the little piece of paper had fallen from her books or binders overhead onto the floor and she hadn't noticed, but as an automatic reaction, he picked up the small Post-it, unfolded it, and read it.

"**Don't really care since you're a pretty damn good kisser...but in seriousness, meet me this Friday at your locker fifteen minutes after the last bell**."

The handwriting was unmistakably that of a guy's, though it wasn't too messy as far as guy handwriting went. There was no name signed, but then again, Tanner had a pretty good idea of who it'd been.

Emotions began rising within the boy, and he was sorely, _sorely_ tempted to ask Leaf right then and there what this was all about and whether or not his suspicions about all this were true.

However, he refrained.

Neatly refolding the Post-it, he fixed a smile on his face, tapped Leaf and, when she turned around inquisitively, handed her the small sheet of paper. "Is this yours?"

Leaf shrugged as she reached out to take, unfold, and read the Post-it, but Tanner saw the blatant excitement in her eyes even as the rest of the girl's face was nonchalant as she skimmed over the note. When she finished, she looked up at Tanner, and he saw the sheepishness in her face. "Uh...sorry, I doubt you did, but just to check...you didn't read this, did you?"

He smiled good-naturedly and replied, "Nah. Don't worry," but even as he did, the cogs in his mind were already churning a plan.

* * *

That Friday, fifteen minutes after the final bell of the week, Gary's gut was practicing cartwheels and his heartbeat was probably a few beats-per-minute higher than usual as he turned corners and walked down corridors to get to Leaf's locker.

What if she wasn't even there? She hadn't replied to the note despite the fact that he had stuck it in her locker on Wednesday afternoon, so...what if she hadn't even taken him seriously? Or, worse yet, what if she really was truly too mad at him (for whatever reason) for her to consider talking things over with him in person? What if she was only there to mock him? What if—

What if, what if, what if.

Most of the "what if"s taking over his mind, however, were banished the moment he turned the last corner and was in Leaf's locker's corridor. Relief washed through him when he saw her silhouette leaning against her locker and staring blankly at the wall in front of her. Her backpack and jacket were on the ground beside her feet and, as he had predicted, there was nobody else around.

As he began walking towards her, Gary never really questioned why he was getting so messed up and pursuing of a friend/enemy he simply had a few benefits with.

The only question running through his mind was the one wondering whether or not if, today, right now, he was finally going to get answers.

"Leaf," he said in acknowledgement as he approached her, stopping a few yards away from her.

Leaf turned her head and nodded slightly. "Gary."

An awkward silence fell upon the two.

Finally, Gary sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and began, "Look, Leaf..." at the same time Leaf murmured, "Gary, I..." Almost simultaneously, the two cut themselves off and looked at each other questioningly and just like that, two small smiles appeared.

"You first."

"Alright...well," began Gary. "I don't know what to say except I'm not lying when I say that I don't know what the problem is, but I've always thought I was pretty good with people and well, I guess girls aren't _that _much different..." Here, Leaf laughed softly, and Gary's spirits and confidence were both upped a notch. "So...try me."

"You really want to know, huh?" said Leaf, a small smile pulling at her mouth. The slightly exasperated look the brunet was giving her was all the confirmation Leaf needed to laugh awkwardly and continue. "Well...you know the exchange student from the U.K.? Tanner?"

Tensing, Gary nodded curtly.

"Well, he...a week ago, he said I was a slag," said Leaf dryly. "Your slag, actually."

Gary raised an eyebrow even as a sudden fluttery feeling erupted in his stomach. "My 'slag'? As in..."

"Slut. Whore. Whatever," said Leaf, slightly irritated. "Because he heard about your rep...and I guess you look at me a lot or pay me a lot of attention or something, I don't know, but he got suspicious and, well...jealous, I guess."

Gary stared at her. "And why did what he said _matter_ to you?" he said, growing slightly irritated himself.

Leaf narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "I don't know, Gary. _Maybe _because I'd talked to him a couple of times and might've thought he was a pretty decent guy, maybe even a little _above _decent. At the very least, he didn't try to argue and/or make out with me every time I saw him!"

"So in other words, he was nice to you the few times that you talked and suddenly his opinion was the world to you," said Gary flatly.

"At least he wasn't a complete douche wanting to either get at my throat—_figuratively speaking—_or my pants everytime we talked!"

"Then why don't you just get _him_ to get at your _non_-figurative throat and pants?" retorted Gary.

Fuming, Leaf was about to open her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by a third voice coming from behind Gary: "Well, if a date or two's part of that road, then I s'pose you could say we've already started that process."

Wide-eyed, both Leaf and Gary snapped their heads to look at the newcomer. "Tanner?" stammered Leaf. "What are you still doing here?"

"I heard you were a pretty bloody good kisser," chuckled the blonde, his eyes following his hands as he stuck them into his hoodie pocket. When he looked up, however, his eyes turned hard. "Suppose I was right in that it was this berk you've been practicing on."

Suddenly, something clicked in Gary's mind. Turning to Tanner, he began darkly, "You read the last Post-it?"

Tanner shrugged. "Might have. Then again...only proves what I thought, doesn't it? And in any case, it doesn't matter much. The idea's the same, isn't it?" Turning to Leaf and ignoring the dumbfounded look on her face, he said gently, "Leaf...me or him?"

Leaf was silent as her frightened eyes darted back and forth between Gary and Tanner. "I mean...I don't even..."

"Yes?" pressed Tanner lightly while Gary simply glared.

"I...I don't know! You can't just expect me to make a decision like that!" she said frantically, resulting in a frustrated look on Gary's face and an exasperated one on Tanner's.

"_Leaf, _he called you a _slag_...because _I _was _looking _at you," growled Gary, internally not really sure of his aim but saying what was coming to mind anyways. "Doesn't that...doesn't that say something about _him_? As a person?"

Behind him, Tanner snorted. "Ah, sod off..."

Ahead of him, Leaf furrowed her brow and Gary could see the doubt in her eyes.

Finally fed up, Gary muttered, "To hell with it," began walking forward towards Leaf, stopped in front of her, and promptly crashed his lips down onto hers without a second thought.

Oh, he knew he was _destroying _her. That telltale initial stiffness of her mouth that had eventually melted and began molding with his, the way she was trying so hard to keep her hands from moving but he saw the way they were twitching and itching to run through his hair like they always did, the way she had whimpered so softly that Tanner probably hadn't even heard her when he brushed his lips and planted open-mouthed kisses from her mouth all the way down to the nape of her neck in the way he knew would drive her insane, not to mention the way his hands were hugging her close to him and drawing circles on her back and playing with her hair and—

Tanner coughed loudly and Leaf jumped, immediately untangling herself from Gary.

Bastard, thought Gary disdainfully as he turned to shoot the British blonde the nastiest look he could. Tanner simply replied with a weary gaze that read _are-you-constipated?_

"Right, well...I guess I know your pick, Leaf," said Tanner, slightly dejected as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Tanner..."

"It's alright. I wouldn't have been much into long-distance anyways," said Tanner, smiling weakly. "Friends?"

Smiling equally weakly, Leaf said, "Yeah."

"Right then...see you two around." And with that, he left.

Both Leaf and Gary watched the boy go until he turned a corner and became completely out of sight before turning back to each other, albeit with slightly more awkward eye contact than ever before and lightly flushed cheeks. There was a pregnant pause as both attempted to find something to say.

Finally, Gary found something to say.

"...What was that?" he said with an awkward chuckle.

"I don't know," replied Leaf with a laugh just as pitiful, her eyes pointedly fixed on Gary's shirt. "But, well, I guess we've got all of that resolved now..."

"I guess we do," chuckled Gary. "Talking in person's different from just scribbling on Post-its, huh?"

"Yeah, some things are just easier to say on Post-its and others are...harder, I guess."

"Ah?" Gary took a single step towards her, closing the distance between them. Something resembling a faint smirk graced his lips. "Like?"

A small smile played on Leaf's lips and then, for the second time in their lives, she took out a Post-it from her pocket and raised a hand to stick a Post-it onto Gary's mouth.

He didn't reach up to take it off. Instead, with the paper flapping over his mouth with each word he spoke, he wondered bemusedly, "What's it say?"

Leaf rolled her eyes but began anyways, "It says..." Her voice began quieting with each and every word until her words were no more than a whisper. "That I _think._..I'm in love...with-"

"You," he said at the same time as she did, grinning widely as he touched his forehead to hers.

* * *

Daisy turned away from eavesdropping on the hallway on the other side of the wall and held up a palm. "Like, I really can't stress how much you deserve, like, a Golden Globe."

Tanner rolled his eyes. "What else is new?" he joked good-naturedly, returning her high-five.

"Who knew cousins were actually useful?" mused Misty as she gave the boy a playful punch on the shoulder.

"Aw hey now, don't be like that, Mist. You'll think I'm even more useful once I get you and that Ash bloke together."

"...Bugger off."

* * *

-*-_fin_-*-

* * *

a first experiment with sexual tension because nbd

sorry er I don't actually know what all this was hahaha all i know is that i'm already late for the deadline of the contest i wrote this for and uh yeah don't judge me please :')

Thanks for reading! :)

-Apheleia


End file.
